Cracker on the cards as Mohammedan SC face East Bengal

Mohammedan Sporting Club will be looking to delay East Bengal's title coronation when the two teams face-off in the CFL tomorrow...

Mohammedan Sporting face East Bengal in a Calcutta Football League match tomorrow at Kalyani Stadium. The Black Panthers are coming into the game, billed as the Mini Derby, on the back of a 2-2 draw against United Sports Club last week which ended their title hopes. However, Head Coach Mridul Bannerjee believes that there is still plenty to play for and strictly advised players to concentrate on the task at hand. “Overall we had a good season and I am happy about my team’s performance. Despite limited resources, the boys put up a brilliant performance in all the matches. We want to continue the good work in our remaining matches and finish the league on a high,” Bannerjee said. The high voltage clash is crucial to both teams for distinct reasons. While a draw is enough for East Bengal to secure a seventh successive league title, breaking their own record of six back-to-back triumphs, a positive result will brighten Mohammedan SC's chances of finishing second for the first time in eight years. “It will be an enticing affair and the team which can handle the pressure better will be able to prevail. East Bengal are a very good side and have shown how easily they can dominate teams. But we have shown that we are a team not to be taken lightly. We will go hard at them enforcing our own style of attacking flare and I am confident we will get a positive result out of the game,” coach Bannerjee added. Facing East Bengal, Mohammedan SC will rely on Ivorian Zikahi Leonce Dodoz along side club’s top-scorer Manvir Singh, who scored four goals, to lead the front-line with Mumtaz Akhtar, Dipendu Dowary and Atinder Mani all are capable enough in pumping blood through heart-line. Meanwhile, the much awaited club debut of Alexandre Tabillon is likely to happen tomorrow. Mohammedan SC last defeated East Bengal in Calcutta Football League on August 10, 2014, since then East Bengal have never lost a single game in CFL and unbeaten in 26 straight games, a streak that the Black Panthers will be eager to end. East Bengal had a light training session trying a few set-piece riutines with Avinash Ruidas and Lalrindika Ralte. It is expected that Do-Dong-Hyun will start with Jiten Murmu up front. East Bengal assistant coach Richard Dryden who is in charge of the team in the absence of Trevor Morgan said, "I want to win against Mohammedan SC tomorrow and touch the historical feat and have no such plans of delaying it till the Aryan match on 18th. I will be leaving for England tomorrow night so want to gift a win to East Bengal which I feel might be the record along with the CFL triumph this season." Probable XI East Bengal: Luis Barreto, Rahul Bheke, Arnab Mondal, Calum Angus, Narayan Das, Mehtab Hossain, Rafique, Avinash Ruidas, Dika, Dong, Jiten Murmu. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]The match at Kalyani Stadium will kick off at 2.30 pm and will televised live on ETV News Bangla.